Articles
Looking at Nothing: Investigating The Lights from a Black Hole
Ranadeep Ghosh Dastidar - Issue #5 (December 2020)
Being one of the most advanced theories of its time, (and its past) general theory of relativity (GTR) was viewed as a fundamental necessity to account for the discrepancies in Newtonian gravity. Trying to account for the changing precession of Mercury, Einstein’s theory ended up unleashing hidden (quite literally) monsters in the extreme gravity. Black holes being probably the most famous example of that. This year, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the Nobel Prize to two milestones, for the proof of the theory of the very existence of the black hole and ingenious methods to observe them.
Debjyoti Ghosh - Issue #5 (December 2020)
The article gives a brief overview of one of the most path-breaking discoveries interdisciplinary sciences in the 21st century - the CRISPR-Cas9 system.
The Nobel Prize in Hepatitis C
Maithili Datta - Issue #5 (December 2020)
This year the Nobel Prize came with a lot of joy to the scientific community. On one hand we got CRISPR as a revolutionary discovery, on the other hand, the hope to eliminate the Hepatitis C virus got accelerated. The HCV which killed millions of people worldwide can now be suppressed and that brings a way to get rid of this deadly illness.
Chinmaya KV - Issue #5 (December 2020)
An entertaining read about simple observations to deep ruminations on the colors in the sky. The article goes down the memory lane from the simple delights of watching a rainbow to the contributions of Prof. C.V Raman, the first Indian scientist who won the Nobel Prize in 1930 for explaining the scattering of light by molecules.
ବର୍ଣ୍ଣାଳୀ ଦାସ - Issue #5 (December 2020)
ଏସିଆ ମହାଦେଶରେ ବିଜ୍ଞାନରେ ପ୍ରଥମ ନୋବେଲ ପୁରସ୍କାର ବିଜେତା, ଯାହାଙ୍କର ଆଲୋକ କ୍ଷେତ୍ରରେ ହୋଇଥିବା ଯୁଗାନ୍ତକାରୀ ଗବେଷଣା ଆଜି ମଧ୍ୟ ବହୁ ଗବେଷକଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଉଲ୍ଲେଖନୀୟ ସୋପାନ | ବାଲ୍ୟ ଜୀବନରୁ ଅସାଧାରଣ ପ୍ରତିଭାଧାରୀ ମଣିଷ ପରବର୍ତୀ ଜୀବନରେ ସଫଳତାର ଶିଖରରେ ପହଁଚି ଆମ ମାନଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ଏକ ଆଦର୍ଶ ସାଜିଛନ୍ତି | ଏହି ମହାନ ବୈଜ୍ଞାନିକ ଜଣକ ହେଉଛନ୍ତି ଚନ୍ଦ୍ରଶେଖର ଭେଙ୍କଟ ରମଣ |
Aditya Dwarkesh, Arunita Banerjee, Debjyoti Ghosh, Shrestha Chowdhury, Subhayu Bagchi - 03/11/2020
The Nobel Prize, one of the most prestigious honours in the world, recognizes contributions which have “conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”. Here’s a simplified sneak-peak into the Nobel Prizes 2020.
#WIISER Spotlight | Dr. Anindita Bhadra: Of flawed humans and cultured dogs
Subhayu Bagchi and Arunita Banerjee - 23/10/2020
They say, ‘Dogs are a man’s best friend.’ Dr. Bhadra is here to tell us that we, as humans, could learn a thing or two from our friends. Dr. Anindita Bhadra is an Associate Professor and the Associate Dean of International Relations and Outreach, at IISER Kolkata. She was the founding chairperson of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) and is presently co-chair of the Global Young Academy (GYA). Alongside her research, she is well-known in academia for excelling in multiple roles as a teacher, scientist, mentor, leader, outreach enthusiast and a thespian among other roles. #WIISER is also a brainchild of Dr. Bhadra.
COVID Vaccine: The Promised Strand
Aditya Dwarkesh - Issue #4 (October 2020)
Human emotion has a history of notoriety with regards to clouding our judgement and abilities to make reliable predictions. This clouding is inevitable when concerning something as significant as a vaccination for a pandemic. Our task in this article is a twofold one: To identify precisely which of these elements are undesirables, and to then clear the air around the mirage that is the COVID-19 vaccine of them.
Sourabh Biswas - Issue #4 (October 2020)
The wonders and colours of nature are a sight to behold as we present to you our first photo-story about the Simplipal National Park.
Prof. Somnath Dasgupta: Four decades of studying the earth
Abhinav Thakur - Issue #4 (October 2020)
In a career spanning over more than 40 years and still going strong, Prof Somnath Dasgupta takes us on an unforgettable journey about how he stepped into the field of Earth Sciences and eventually into academia. He shares anecdotes from his many adventures around the world and also shares his experiences as one of the first faculty members at IISER Kolkata.
Menstruation: The cost of being fertile
Reema Jaiswal & Shrestha Chowdhury - Issue #4 (October 2020)
The article explores ‘menstruation (aka: periods)’ from scientific and cultural perspectives. Menstruation is still considered a taboo subject to discuss. The authors shine light on the origins of misogyny due to lack of understanding of the female reproductive behaviour and also how the gain in the scientific knowledge has led to the emancipation of women.
Ravi Vishwakarma - Issue #4 (October 2020)
This is a biographical article on Dattatreya Ramachandra Kaprekar and his works. Although not widely known, the kind of work he did was not only significant but also fascinating and elementary to understand.
অ্যাননিমাস@iiserk (জনৈক আইসারীয়) - Issue #4 (October 2020)
প্রতিবছর শারদোৎসবের সূচনাকাল আপামর বাঙালির জীবনে নিয়ে আসে উৎসবের আমেজ। কিন্তু এইবছরে করোনা ভাইরাসের প্রকোপ আমাদের কপালে ফেলেছে দুশ্চিন্তার ভাঁজ।প্রত্যেকেই বিগত সাতমাস ঘর-বন্দিদশায় কাটিয়ে অবশেষে চেয়ে আছে আগামী সপ্তাহে নিয়ম বদ্ধ জীবন থেকে সামান্য মুক্তির দিকে। তবে এর মাঝে ভাইরাস কিন্তু বিশ্রাম নিচ্ছে না। এই নতুন জীবনশৈলীর সাথে নিজেদের খাপ খাওয়ানো তুলনামুলকভাবে মুশকিল হলেও অসম্ভব নয়। কি কি পদ্ধতি অবলম্বনে আনন্দ উৎসবের মাঝেও অতিরিক্ত সংক্রমন রোধ করা সম্ভব তা এই পাঠ্যে সংকলিত করা হল।
অঞ্জিরা সেনগুপ্ত - Issue #4 (October 2020)
প্রায় ১১০০০ বছর আগে, আমাদের বর্তমান ঘনিষ্ঠ সঙ্গী কুকুরের আবির্ভাব হয়েছিল, সম্ভবত ধুসর নেকড়ের থেকে। সেই থেকে এখনও, প্রধানত খাদ্য সংগ্রহের উদ্দেশ্যেই আমাদের ধারেকাছে এদের আনাগোনা। তবে মানুষের উপর নির্ভরশীল হলেও এই দুই ভিন্ন প্রজাতির মধ্যে আবার আছে প্রচুর মিল। আমাদের যেমন আছে ঘরবাড়ি, তেমনি তাদের আছে নিজস্ব এলাকা। আমাদের মতো তাদেরও আছে সংসার এবং সেই সংসার ধর্ম পালনের দায়িত্ব। আর তার সাথে আছে প্রতিবেশীদের সাথে নিত্য দন্দ্ব। এই পাঠ্যে তুলে ধরা হল এদেরই রোজনামচার কিছু অংশ।
The Art of Teaching: A Student's Perspective
Aditya Dwarkesh - 08/09/2020
The education system followed in our country is not without flaws. The current mode of online teaching is causing further setbacks to it, by replacing teachers in classrooms with virtual screens at home. In this article, we try to see how, in the face of all these adversities, a teacher may yet retain his significance in the life of the student.
Book Review — Nanoscale: The biggest “small secrets”
Srujana Mohanty - 03/09/2020
How do labs in our country perform cutting edge research despite financial constraints? Do science and ayurveda go hand in hand? Does scientific innovation crumble under market pressure? Dr. Pankaj Seksharia's ‘Nanoscale’ answers these burning questions and gives us a thorough insight into four of India's leading laboratories.
#WIISER Spotlight | Dr Poonam Thakur: Moving forward, with wisdom from the past
Sowmya S Geetha and Arunita Banerjee - 29/08/2020
Dr Poonam Thakur, Assistant Professor at IISER Thiruvananthapuram, was fascinated by the intricacies of the Parkinson's Disease during her doctoral research and has decided to delve further into it with her research group now. She spoke to Cogito137 in an email interview, where she talks about the prevailing gender bias in academia and her plans of maintaining an ethical work culture in her lab.
What do scientists really know?
Varun Srivastava - Issue #3 (August 2020)
Do the concept of science, and the perception of science disagree? Is science a field that deals with the complete and absolute knowledge of Nature, or should we take scientific ‘breakthroughs’ with a pinch of salt, knowing that it is only valid till it's not? This opinion piece looks at how science in popular culture is at odds with science in reality.
Simli Mishra - Issue #3 (August 2020)
Absolute zero is the lowest temperature theoretically possible which is also practically impossible to achieve. It is the temperature which the Universe is tending to in its theoreised eventual heat death. A number of interesting phenomena occur near this temperature which have intrigued scientists for a century, and it also holds the key to future engineering.
Hilbert’s Quarantine Centre: To infinity and beyond!
Debmalya Bandyopadhyay - Issue #3 (August 2020)
This article revisits a classic thought experiment in Mathematics. It explores some of the intricacies of countable infinity and how its definition can be used to achieve seemingly impossible results, and contemplates how useful these results may be in the current pandemic.
Quantum Entanglement: Our ignorance or the Universe's ghost?
Magare Sourabh Suryakant - Issue #3 (August 2020)
A simplistic overview of one of the most startling quantum mechanical phenomena known to exist, one which greatly disconcerted Albert Einstein himself; and a discussion on its consequences regarding our knowledge about the world.
Love paves the path for a strong dog-human bond
Debottam Bhattacharjee - Issue #3 (August 2020)
A recent study from the Dog Lab, IISER Kolkata challenges the notion that dogs associate themselves with humans solely for seeking food. It shows that affectionate behaviour paves the way for dog-human bonding.
#WIISER Spotlight | Dr. Nisha N. Kannan: Synchronizing work, life and science with time
Ashwathi Prithviraj and Arunita Banerjee - 14/08/2020
Dr. Nisha K. Kannan, Assistant Professor, studies 'Chronobiology' in fruit flies, at IISER Thiruvananthapuram. She spoke to Cogito137 over an email interview, where she talks about her tryst with science from an early age to a career in research and how life and society influenced it.
Aditya Dwarkesh - 14/08/2020
Looking back at the European Black Plague as an archetype of a pandemic, which ravaged human lives in the 14th century, and drawing parallels to the coronavirus pandemic of the 21st century.
#WIISER Spotlight | Dr. R. S. Swathi : Where there is a will, there is a way
Anvy Kuriakose and Arunita Banerjee - 31/07/2020
Dr. R. S. Swathi, Associate Professor, is a theoretical chemist at IISER Thiruvananthapuram. She spoke to Cogito137 over an email interview, where she talks of overcoming different hurdles for securing a higher education in basic sciences and a career in scientific research.
Neha K, Sheena Shaji and Arunita Banerjee - 22/07/2020
Dr. Deepshikha Jaiswal Nagar, Assistant Professor, the only woman faculty in the Department of Physics at IISER Thiruvananthapuram, is a condensed matter physicist. She spoke to Cogito137 over an email interview, where she talks of the gender imbalance in her department, trust issues in academia and importance of bracing new problems and challenges in science.
#WIISER Spotlight | Prof. Sumana Annagiri : With curiosity driven science, towards blue-sky research
Vedanth Sriram and Arunita Banerjee - 29/06/2020
Dr. Sumana Annagiri joined IISER Kolkata as an Assistant Professor in October 2008. Her lab studies nest-relocation dynamics in an Indian ant species, trying to understand the strategies and priorities involved in the process.
Debanuj Chatterjee - Issue #2 (April 2020)
The advent of digital tools has revolutionized art by increasing possibilities for the ones with creative minds. Read on to find out about a harmonious marriage between mathematics and art.
New method of cyanide detection in edibles: devised by The Light Lab, IISER Kolkata
Vigneshbabu T - Issue #2 (April 2020)
Researchers from IISER Kolkata have produced a simple and cost-effective method of cyanide detection in food and water. This can potentially bring major transformations in the food industry, especially involving seafood.
The COVID-19 lockdown: Our self-induced psychological experiment?
Arunita Banerjee - 24/04/2020
One-third of the world population is currently living in isolation, under enforced lockdowns.The evolutionarily "social" brain of humans can be massively affected through this. Here's why this COVID-19 lockdown may be the biggest psychological experiment that mankind has induced upon itself, and how this will affect us.
#WIISER Spotlight | Prof. Jayasri Das Sarma : On training scientific minds and not just hands
Vedanth Sriram and Arunita Banerjee - 12/04/2020
Prof. Jayasri Das Sarma, who works on certain coronaviruses which infect mice models, speaks to Cogito in an electronic interview.
PhD balance - a students' initiative for better mental health in academia
Subhayu Bagchi in conversation with Susanna L Harris - Issue #2 (April 2020)
Susanna L Harris in an email conversation with Subhayu Bagchi, talks about being a graduate student herself and leading a successful students' initiative, aiming to provide much needed mental health support to graduate students.
EGFR Signaling: its multiple roles in the symphonic orchestra of insect development
Susnata Karmakar - Issue #2 (April 2020)
Living things are machines of a sort, run by complex biochemical and molecular pathways. Read on to know about the functioning of one such pathway that plays a pivotal role in the development of fruit flies.
Diptatanu Das - 27/03/2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has befallen the human race and has literally put the entire world on a lock-down. While economies are suffering greatly and the pandemic has contributed to an ‘infodemic’, people are still curious about what is all this buzz about. Read on to understand what coronavirus is, why social-distancing is important and why this should be our wake-up call to stop mis-treating the earth any further.
Women in Science | IISER Kolkata (currently changed)
Multiple authors - 08/03/2020
Srujana Mohanty - 28/02/2020
News report on the Open Day at IISER Kolkata where IISER Kolkata opens it's gates to communicate science to the public.
Prof. Narayan Banerjee, in conversation with Suvadeep Roy - Issue #1 (February 2020)
Prof. Narayan Banerjee in conversation with Suvadeep Roy, talks about the societal role of science and scientists, simplistic understanding of gravitation and dark matter, the importance of enjoying science and more.
Debmalya Bandyopadhyay - Issue #1 (February 2020)
A story about how Euler gave birth to the graph theory in an attempt to figure out an innovative route, in which a pedestrian would cross each of the seven bridges in the city of Königsberg,only once
Collaborative Science as a Path to the Future
Subhayu Bagchi - Issue #1 (February 2020)
Gone are the days when science used to be a lonesome affair. With increased globalization and emerging interdisciplinary fields, collaborative research is bringing the scientific community closer and also giving rise to mega-projects.
Aerosols - The Main Culprit for Rising Air Pollution over Kolkata
Nandana Goswami - Issue #1 (February 2020)
Most Indian metropolitans are infamous for making it to the list of top polluted cities in the world. Scientists at IISER Kolkata have pin-pointed the reason to be aerosols, majorly comprising of Sulphur particles.
Arunita Banerjee - Issue #1 (February 2020)
Rise of political turmoil across the globe has dampened climate change action-plans, which looked promising till the last year. While humans are busy fighting other humans, the arch-enemy of our kind is gaining strength.
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